New Generation 1
by awkward-kitty
Summary: A few years have passed since Twilight Sparkle took leadership of Equestria. Ponies lived and grew; especially Applebloom and her friends. Now with their cutie marks, they are free to roam Ponyville as fully-grown ponies. However, Ponyville is faced with an incredible danger, and Princess Twilight Sparkle is under threat. Ponyville must be saved; before it's too late.
1. Prologue

Rain. The only thing that could describe this location was rain; rain_y_ as a matter of fact. Rain in Equestria was like a polar bear in a jungle, or any kind of almost impossible trait. However, this location was like the _outcast_ of Equestria; or maybe like the underworld. It was like any normal medieval village, but it looked doubtlessly deserted and unfriendly, and any pony you would find in this area would you the coldest look you have ever received.

A puddle splashed as a dark hoof splattered over it. The hoof belonged to a strange pony wearing a cloak over its body, almost completely hiding its body and face. The pony cantered across the granite pavement, his eyes shifting from the left to right as he scanned for his destination. A few ponies were out, and were being as anti-social as before. They dodged the passing pony as if he were the most hated pony in Equestria, even though barely anypony knew anypony here. Though, the pony in the cloak did not seem bothered by the avoidance. It wasn't as if he were the only pony avoided in this place. He wasn't from here anyway...

He paused and let the rain shower over his cloak as he darted his head to the left and the right. All ponies seemed separated, though he could see one pony that was close enough to him. He, too, was wearing a cloak, but the hood of the cloak was flung to the back of his neck, revealing his head. He was a white earth pony with a well-groomed cyan mane, and looked as unfriendly as all the other habitants, but, according to the way he was walking, he was in no hurry. Without stopping to think about it, the strange pony in the cloak approached him calmly.

"You there". It wasn't the best thing to announce his approach, but at least it caught the earth pony's attention.

He spun round hesitantly, and gave him a very cold glare. "What do _you_ want, imbecile?" he snarled.

_Nice response_, the cloaked pony thought sarcastically. He wasn't surprised anyway. Trying to ignore his harsh comment he got straight to the question, "Do you know where the nearest town is?"

The other pony snorted and turned his back on him. "I'm not talking to you", he said defiantly.

_And he calls _me_ imbecile._The pony in the cloak backed his head further into the hood as he groaned with irritation. "Just reply", he threatened. "I don't want any trouble".

"There's enough trouble than it already is", the white pony scoffed. "All day long there's chaos here and there. It's not as if anypony can get a good night sleep in this country".

"I'm just going to the nearest town", the cloaked pony said scornfully. "I'm no threat to this ghost-town".

The earth pony turned round again and locked his eyes onto the other pony. His turquoise eyes were full of suspicion. "Are you from here?" he said.

"Why do you ask?" The pony in the cloak could feel his hooves getting saturated.

"You don't sound like you're from here", the white pony commented. "You don't seem surprised by the avoidance everypony is getting. I bet you also didn't _think_ before you approached me".

_What a clever pony you are. _He was going to respond to that imply, but the cloaked pony didn't see the point of it. Besides, he wasn't here to have a conversation with somepony. "Enough chit-chat", he remarked. "And answer my question: where is the nearest town?"

The earth pony sighed. "I know one town named Ponyville", he told him. "Not far from here".

"Then I'll head there, then. Which way is it?"

The turquoise-eyed pony tossed his head over to his right. "South-east from here", he replied. "But you need a train ticket to get there".

The cloaked pony trotted past him. "No need", he said. "I'll go by hoof".

As rain thundered down heavily both ponies knew it wouldn't be any use talking any more without getting drenched. The white pony stared at the cloaked pony closely before cantering away. The pony in the cloak was glad to be left again, and he turned to the direction he was pointed to. He could see a few tips of some buildings at the far-off distance. It looked very far, despite that the earth pony had told him it wasn't very far, but he supposed he had no other choice.

_It's been a while since I have anything to do with 'Ponyville',_he realised as he slowly walked towards that direction. _I wonder if anypony remembers me._

_Let the vengeance begin._He sped to a gallop, and disappeared into the village's depths.


	2. Chapter 1

It was, as per usual, a sunny, beautiful day in Ponyville. Streets were rapidly busy with merchandise and customers, citizens were happily chatting and hanging out with their companions, Pegasi were inspecting the weather as their daily duty, and Sweet Apple Acres was currently crammed with the Apple family working busily. The sun was shining brightly in the cyan blue sky, making the day more perfect than it already was. Though, some ponies were tenser than relaxed today.

Farm-mare, Applebloom, had locked herself in her bedroom as she looked through the drawers frantically to find something to wear. Her cousin, Babs Seed, was coming to visit Ponyville from Manehattan again, and even though her cousin loved her in either form when she'd pick her up, the yellow mare was still worried on finding the perfect outfit.

When Applebloom first met her little cousin, they were both fillies - and blank flanks at that. Babs Seed had been freaked out by Applebloom and her friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, as they had introduced themselves in an overly-enthusiastic manner. This caused her to join the forces of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the fillies at the School that bullied Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell because of their lack of cutie mark, and had bullied her cousin and her friends along with them. Later, the three girls had leant that the reason Babs had joined Diamond Tiara was that she had been bullied of being a blank flank back at Manehattan, and she made friends with Diamond Tiara and Tiara so that they wouldn't bully _her_. She had then re-befriended Applebloom and had even joined their little club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

That was years ago; now all of them had gained their cutie mark as they searched for their rightful talent: Applebloom had received a tree as a cutie mark as she had taken an interest in growing plants in her later years, Scootaloo gained a butterfly as her cutie mark because of her speed and agility, and Sweetie Belle gained a musical note as her cutie mark after her interest in singing - now the unicorn would do live performances at many shows around Ponyville. Babs Seed had earned her cutie mark too: three apple seeds. The fillies had also_ changed_ during growing up: Applebloom had plaited her mane, which was tied to the tip by a tiny ribbon which resembled the large bow she used to wear as a filly, and also wore a green checkered bandanna, Scootaloo had cut her mane and purposely and literally messed it up, while Sweetie Belle had let her mane reach the floor. Not only that; but Diamond and Silver had matured since they were leaving school, and even tried to make peace with the foals that they had once bullied. Applebloom and her friends had accepted their friendship, as they had all agreed that they hadn't known any better back then.

"Applebloom!" The yellow mare jumped as she heard a loud knock on her door, and detected her older sister's voice. "Ya in there, sis?"

"Yeah, Applejack", Applebloom sighed, and trotted to the door to unlock it.

Applejack barged into the room, and almost shrieked at the sight of the place: there were clothes everywhere, with drawers halfway open and the wardrobe opened to its widest. "Wha' in the hay are ya doin'?" she yelped. "Ya not stressin' over Babs comin' over, are ya?"

The younger mare galloped away from her and shoved her head into the drawers as she searched for an outfit. "'Am jus' lookin' for somethin' perfect to wear as Ah go to the station", she insisted. She jerked away from the drawer and dropped two hats in front of her sister; one was a simple cowboy hat with a sewn-on flower while the other was brown with a white crown. "Which hat do ya think Ah should wear?" she asked frantically.

Applejack sighed and pushed the two hats away from her. "Ya're startin' to sound like Rarity", she remarked, referring to the white unicorn who was Sweetie Bell's sister and ran her own boutique. "Ya don' need to look fancy when you go to tuh station, sugarcube, ya jus' have to look like yaself". She ruffled her younger sister's braided mane. "We've been over this".

"I guess ya're righ'..." Applebloom sighed, recalling her sister's wisdom and honestly. Applejack was a very honest pony, and also told great advice - Applebloom could imagine her being some kind of guru.

The orange mare smiled and turned back to door. "Ah have to go now, sugarcube", she said, looking over her shoulders. "Caramel's comin' over to help aroun' the farm, and I have to direct him and all that. Hopefully we'll get our own place someday".

Applejack had married Caramel for quite some time now, and Applebloom was happy to have a brother-in-law to hang out with; and she was even _more_ excited to have a nephew or a niece someday. Caramel and Applejack were undecided on having a foal, as it would be a big change to them and the family, but Applebloom wouldn't seem to mind having a little foal running around just as long as she could be able to have some aunt-nephew or niece time with it. However, what made her sad was that Caramel and Applejack were planning on getting their own place; Applebloom didn't want her sister to leave the barn, she'd be all lonely then - no offence to Big Macintosh, even though the red stallion was starting to grow an interest on Fluttershy - and would have to do all of Applejack's work herself. Not that she minded to participate with her sister's regular chores, but she'd hate to no longer see her around the barn any more, working busily around the fields, bucking apples or herding sheep. But, still, she wanted her to be happy...

Applebloom shook her head to snap out of it. As far as she was concerned, she recalled that she was _planning_ on moving away; that didn't always mean she was actually leaving...was it?

The yellow mare sighed and looked at the two hats consciously. Even though Applejack had said she just had to be herself, she thought the hat with a flower would look good on her, so she plopped it onto her head and headed out of her room to go to the station and pick up Babs. She could grieve on Applejack leaving later, when it was going to be an actual situation, right now she had to pick up her cousin.

"Wow, nice jumping, Rumble", complimented Scootaloo as she watched her friend bounce aggressively on the rain cloud. "I never knew you have that in you".

The grey Pegasus stopped jumping to catch his breath. "Thanks, Scoots", he panted.

Scootaloo turned round to see Rainbow Dash flying up towards them. The cyan mare raised her hoof to say that their job was done. "I think the lake's water level has risen to its average point now", she reported. "Well done, you two".

In a day so nice and sunny, it didn't mean the lake's water level was going to stay the same. When Rainbow Dash had noticed that the lake's water level had lowered, she decided to put Scootaloo's and Rumble's cloud-jumping skills to the test as she ordered them to create as much rainfall as they can to refill the water level. Fluttershy's animals would thank them later.

"You two are free to go now", the rainbow-maned Pegasus said without looking away from the renewed lake. "I can sort other things out myself".

"Okay. Come on, Rumble!" Scootaloo took off into the clouds, with Rumble soaring after her. Cloudsdale was as busy as the lower world in Ponyville, with Pegasi flying from one place to another. Though, the two young Pegasi weren't doing anything busy, so they would spend all day lazing on the clouds and doing absolutely nothing; but that wasn't Scootaloo's cup of tea for today - she was still in the energetic mood, plus she still wanted to hang out with her friend, Rumble.

Scootaloo had made friends with Rumble ever since she got to reach Cloudsdale as her wing-span had grown. She met him when Rainbow Dash was teaching her cloud-jumping, and he had volunteered to help. Since then, the two had been teasing each other, chasing each other, and having a good time together. "Is Thunderlane hanging out with Cloudchaser again?" she asked him.

Rumble nodded, sighing with annoyance at the thought of his brother giving his girlfriend some 'cute' Eskimo kisses. "Yeah, he should_ seriously_ move out of the house and stay with her for a change", he grumbled. "But that means I'm not doing cloud-chasing with him, so I guess we can hang out some more".

The amber mare threw up her hooves in zest. "_Great_!" she exclaimed. "Let's go find Applebloom before she picks up Babs from the station, and I don't really want to bother Sweetie Belle; she's practising for her rehearsal tonight".

"Okey-dokey", the pale stallion said enthusiastically, then prepared his wings for a race. "Last one to Ponyville is a rotten egg!"

Sweetie Belle pulled back the stage curtain for the third time and gave the room another nervous glance. The room in front of her was full of empty chairs facing the stage, but tonight, it'd be filled with ponies, watching her, judging her...laughing at her. The pale grey mare wasn't going to let her performance get ruined tonight; she would _shine_, like a star...or something like that. Though, Sweetie was still nervous; even though her cutie mark implied that it was her destiny to sing, every single performing time would be like sitting in a waiting room for a doctor's appointment.

"Miss Sweetie Belle". A voice made her jump. The singer turned her head and saw it was only her agent,Brownie Cookie: a brown unicorn with a green mane and a two candy canes as a cutie mark. She was wearing glasses, and was using her magic to let a checkboard float in front of her face. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Brownie Cookie", the singer sighed. "I'm just nervous".

The brown unicorn sighed. "Sweetie Belle, so far none of your performances have slipped. You just have to control that squeak in your voice".

"I know", Sweetie sighed. Staring out of the curtains again she added, "I just hope this'll get right. My friends are coming too; and my sister, and my parents are visiting Ponyville again".

"Just carry on practising your chords", Brownie advised, before turning her back on her. "I need to see if your background singers are in tonight..."

Sweetie Belle sighed and walked onto the stage, her long mane dragging itself behind her. Instead of singing, she just stared into the empty audience. _I wonder who'll be sitting here tonight..._ She looked down at the tables; they were all circular with four chairs on each, with a clean white blanket covering each table, and all containing a vase at the centre. To a typical pony, it looked like a regular bar with quite a lot of tables, but to do Sweetie, it looked like an entire stadium audience.

_All of these ponies...watching me_. This wasn't a frequent problem that affected the white unicorn, but now paranoia was racing over her like a roadrunner. Seeing countless tables around the place made her feel nauseous.

She sighed and flipped her long, curly mane. _Maybe Brownie was right...tonight might not go as bad as I thought I'd be..._

_Then how come I sense something's going to go wrong?_

Dinky Doo smiled as she placed the last book in her bookshelf using her magic. It took her an hour to get all these fallen books back to their shelves, and to put them in her desired order and to tidy them up, but it was worth it. Due to her mother's usual clumsiness, the books had showered from their shelves and created a large book-puddle around the room. Her mother attempted to clear them up, but Dinky had volunteered to do so - it wasn't as if her mother would be able to put them back without another accident.

"Dinky, darling". The lilac unicorn looked up to see Derpy Hooves walk into the room; and was relieved to see her avoid flying. "Are all the books put back?"

"Yeah, Mum", Dinky smiled. Unlike her, her mother was a Pegasus - and what was even stranger was that her father was an Earth pony. A simple explanation of this was that Derpy's great-great-great-great grandmother was a unicorn, and Dinky had obviously received her heritage. Before Dinky had even earned her cutie mark - which was a yellow archer's bow - her father had left Derpy forever. From time-to-time, Dinky had asked why, and Derpy had simply replied that he was going to do 'special things' for a very long time.

It hurt Dinky not to have a father, who would be there for her as she grew, but she did not mind having a mother like Derpy; she may be clumsy at times but her motherhood was perfect.

"I'm making blueberry muffins for lunch", the grey Pegasus said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'll just be at the market to get some butter, okay?"

"No wait". Dinky trotted towards her. "_I'll_do that as well", she volunteered. "I'd like it if you'd carry on with your mailing duty".

Derpy hesitated for the moment then nodded. "Okay", she said. "I may as well go to the letter box. Let me go give you the bits for the butter".

The grey Pegasus left her in the room for a short while. Dinky walked to the edge of the bookshelf to get a view of the window. She peeked through it to see the ponies of Ponyville busily doing their jobs, or buying from stores, or simply hanging out with their friends. The lilac unicorn wondered if _she_ should be hanging out with friends, chatting or buying stuff from merchandise.

Except from she didn't _have_ any friends.

Derpy returned to the room carrying a small duffle-bag. "There is 1.50 bits in this bag", she told her daughter as she jerked away from the window. "Do not spend on _anything else_ but butter".

"I know, Mum", Dinky sighed as she took the duffle-bag from her mother. "I'll be back".

The lilac unicorn used her magic to open the front door, and as she went through she was met by the warm heat of the sun, which relaxed her a bit. _Nice day out..._ she thought to herself as she flung the duffle-bag around her neck and trotted towards the stores. On her way there, she suddenly heard the noise of ponies chattering and giggling. Abandoning her plan of getting the butter for one moment, she allowed her ears to lead her to the destination of the chattering.

She soon found a large group of ponies crowding around something, and were clearly the source of the chattering and the giggling. But by the looks of it, they weren't surrounding something...but some_pony._

_What's going on? _


End file.
